​Extremists in ISIS 'Mossad spy' video are French citizens – reports

The child executioner and adult militant featured in the chilling ISIS video purportedly showing the killing of a teenager they accuse of being an Israeli spy have been identified as French citizens, an official with ties to security agencies told AP.

The official, who was
not authorized to speak publicly about the ongoing inquiry, also
said investigators suspect that the man in the video may be
related to one of the extremists responsible for the 2012 attack
on a Jewish school in Toulouse.

The older man, who is heard speaking French with a prominent
southern French accent, resembles the stepbrother of Mohammed
Merah, who killed seven people during his attack and subsequent
siege of the Ozar Hatorah school, AP reported.

A French police source identified the man as Sabri Essid, a
half-brother of Merah, Reuters also reported Wednesday.

In the video, released Tuesday as part of Islamic State’s ongoing
grisly propaganda campaign, the latest victim identified himself
as Mohammed Said Ismail Musallam, and claimed he had been
recruited by Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, before
being shot point blank by a boy executioner.

The boy, described by the older man in the video as a “cub of
the caliphate,” then shouts “Allahu Akbar!” and
fires four more shots at the already dead victim.

In the video, the older extremist also encouraged attacks on Jews
“in your own stronghold in France,” before the taped
execution.

In February, Islamic State claimed in its English-language
magazine to have captured Musallam and accused him of
infiltrating the organization on behalf of Israeli security
services to gather intelligence on other Palestinians working for
the group.

Later that month, Musallam’s father denied that his son was an
Israeli agent.

“My son is innocent,” Said told AFP. “Islamic State
accused him of working for Mossad because he tried to run
away.”

A spokesperson for Israel’s Shin Bet security service told AFP
that Musallam had left Israel last fall of his own volition.

Stephane La Foll, a spokesperson for the French government,
refused to comment on the nationalities of the man and the boy in
the video on Wednesday.

As of January, some 1,400 people from France had joined Islamic
State extremists in Syria and Iraq in their quest to create a
caliphate in the Middle East, according to French Prime Minister
Manuel Valls. Many have since returned, spurring fears from
security officials that the arrivals will have newly sharpened
fighting skills, posing a greater danger to European security.